It’s August and if you’re a hockey fan, you know what that means… We’re pretty much in the dog days of summer. Training camps won’t start for about another month. So while there isn’t a lot going on, I wanted to take a look at attendance figures between the different major sports leagues (NHL, NFL, NBA, and MLB) and see how they compare to each other.

Instead of just dumping a bunch of statistics for all the major sports leagues, and because their arena sizes are the most similar, I’ll start with the NHL vs the NBA. Granted there will be variables that affect these numbers. Economies, recent success of each team, overall fanbase-strength, climate, and star power all play a factor with these numbers. Still, I think it’s something that would be interesting at which to take a look. My goal isn’t to make one league look better or worse than the other, I just wanted to show my findings and share some thoughts.

Let’s first take a quick look at both Leagues in regards to capacity instead of overall seats filled numbers.

NBA 2013-14

NHL 2013-14

-8 of 30 teams play at or above 100% Capacity. .
-19 of 30 teams play at or above 90% Capacity.
-3 teams below 75% Capacity.

-13 of 30 teams play at or above 100% Capacity.
-23 of 30 teams play at or above 90% Capacity.
-0 teams below 75%.

A couple quick notes:-The NHL has almost half of its teams playing at or above 100% capacity. Impressive.
-Say what you will about Gary Bettman, but not one of the NHL’s teams play in a market below 75% building capacity.
-The NBA has a much wider capacity gap, with teams above 100% and below 75%.

A couple quick notes:
-Attendance in Chicago and LA are in the top five per capacity in both the NHL and NBA.
-The above capacity of the NHL is fascinating. Two Original Six teams, Two Canadian teams and a team in a “non-hockey market.”
-Miami will likely not be on this list next season.

A couple quick notes:-Warm climates and bad winning percentages is a bad combination for a hockey market.
-The Atlanta Thrashers would’ve likely pushed the Panthers off of this list, but are now playing to 100% capacity in Winnipeg.

Since the size of NBA and NHL arenas are similar, I’ve ranked all NBA and NHL teams according to percent capacity.

Chicago Blackhawks 117.6%

Detroit Red Wings 110.4%

Los Angeles Kings 107.6%

Vancouver Canucks 107.2%

Dallas Mavericks 103.9%

Chicago Bulls 103.8%

Toronto Maple Leafs 103.3%

Minnesota Wild 103.1%

Philadelphia Flyers 101.5%

Pittsburgh Penguins 101.3%

Miami Heat 100.9%

Los Angeles Clippers 100.8%

Houston Rockets 100.4

Calgary Flames 100.1%

Montreal Canadiens 100% (21,273)

New York Knicks 100% (19,812)

Golden State Warriors 100% (19,596)

OKC Thunder 100% (18,203)

NY Rangers 100% (18,006)

Boston Bruins 100% (17,565)

Winnipeg Jets 100% (15,004)

Edmonton Oilers 99.9%

San Antonio Spurs 99.1%

Los Angeles Lakers 98.8%

San Jose Sharks 97.6%

Washington Capitals 97.6%

Buffalo Sabres 97.4%

Boston Celtics 97.2%

Nashville Predators 97%

Tampa Bay Lightning 96.9%

Indiana Pacers 96.3

Anaheim Ducks 95.6%

New Orleans Pelicans 95.4%

Brooklyn Nets 95.3%

Portland Trail Blazers 95%

Ottawa Senators 94.5%

Sacramento Kings 94.1%

NY Islanders 93.4%

Memphis Grizzlies 92.3%

Toronto Raptors 92.2%

Utah Jazz 91.3%

Colorado Avalanche 90.5%

Denver Nuggets 88.2%

St. Louis Blues 88.9%

New Jersey Devils 88.7%

Orlando Magic 86.2%

Phoenix Suns 86.2%

Cleveland Cavaliers 84.3%

Washington Wizards 84%

Florida Panthers 83.2%

Carolina Hurricanes 82.9%

Charlotte Bobcats 81.3%

Columbus Blue Jackets 81%

Phoenix Coyotes 80.4%

Dallas Stars 79.1%

Atlanta Hawks 76.6%

Minnesota Timberwolves 75.2%

Milwaukee Bucks 72.1%

Philadelphia 76ers 68.2%

Detroit Pistons 68%

A couple quick notes:-Overall, the bottom five teams are from the NBA.
-Eight of the top ten teams per capacity are from the NHL.
-Ottawa and Edmonton are the only two Canadian NHL teams playing at less than 100% capacity. Although Edmonton is as close to 100% as it gets.
-It’ll be interesting to see the jump the Cleveland Cavaliers will have this time next season.
-No surprise that most of the bottom NHL teams are in warmer, non-typical hockey markets.
-Columbus isn’t in a warmer climate, but their overall struggles throughout the Blue Jackets existence keeps them near the bottom of this list. It’ll be an interesting market to watch going forward with as they continue to improve and build rivalries in the Eastern Conference.
-Ohio should be in for a nice economic boost next season.